"A legendary Communist leader recalls his life from farm boy to the Thirty Comrades to revolutionary commander...
Living history” is a good way to describe retired Brig-Gen Kyaw Zaw, who has published his memoirs at age 88. The book, as a firsthand account of a lifelong Burmese revolutionary, will be invaluable to scholars..."

Gen Kyaw Zaw, 84, alias Thakin Shwe, is one of the founders of the Tatmadaw, or Burma’s armed forces. He is one of the Thirty Comrades who went to Japan for military training in 1941. He joined the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in 1944 and was elected to the Central Committee a year later. In 1956, he was accused of leaking news to the CPB and forced to leave the army. He served as Vice Chief of General Staff of the CPB until the 1989 mutiny. In written correspondence with The Irrawaddy, Kyaw Zaw discussed Burma’s past and the lessons it holds for the country’s future.